Sutil: Tyre advantage could be key

Adrian Sutil says that Sahara Force India's ability to manage its tyres could give it an advantage in this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

The team has made a solid start to the new season but failed to score in Malaysia after wheel nut issues forced both Sutil and Paul di Resta into retirement.

Heading into the Shanghai race, Sutil admitted that the team was hopeful of building on the performance displayed prior to the Malaysian DNF and was keen to make the most of the tyre choices available from Pirelli.

“The car was definitely quick, but I felt more comfortable in the dry and I struggled more during the wet part of qualifying,” he said. “The start of the race was good: I was running in eighth position before my first stop, but that's when things started to go wrong in the pits. It's a shame we had the problem because the car felt very strong, but sometimes these things happen. Now we need to focus on the performance to try and repeat it in China.

“The layout is not too different to Sepang, so it should suit us again and I hope we can be strong there. Also, we know there are lots of areas where we can improve because we have learned a lot from the first couple of races. The other teams will not stand still so we need to keep pushing hard and keep up this momentum.

“We will have a new tyre combination in China – the soft and the medium – and we appear to be quite good at managing our tyres so we need to use that to our advantage.”